Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have not set a date for those referendums at this stage. As the Deputy is aware, keeping Irish Water in public ownership is very much there in the law. I am not sure who is proposing to privatise it. I have not heard anyone suggest that. As regards housing, the Housing Commission is doing very good work on the wording of that amendment and has just completed a public consultation. Approximately 2,000 people participated in that, which is quite a lot. We will have to see what the wording is before we can proceed with the referendum. One thing I will always say about the Constitution is that we need to bear in mind that any time we write something into the Constitution, power leaves this place and goes to the Supreme Court. It is all down to the wording and how it might be interpreted. Ultimately, any time you put anything into the Constitution, elected representatives - the people here in this Chamber - who can be removed cede power to the Supreme Court, to judges who are not elected and cannot be removed. I am not saying we should not do it - I campaigned for many a constitutional amendment - but we should always bear that in mind.

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